Just a Necklace
by OrangeMonkey7
Summary: Tony notices Ziva's Star of David missing from Ziva after Somalia.  He tries to make amends and help her.  How will Ziva react? Rated T.  After Ziva is rescued and reinstated.


**So, a new Tiva one shot. Takes place right after Ziva is reinstated after the rescue in Somalia. A special thanks to xXBoothxBonesXx for editing this and making it 100 billion times better. Enjoy. **

DiNozzo entered the bullpen with a spring in his step. He finally had found what he'd been looking for. The DiNozzo wasn't big on gift giving, but there was an exception. 

Tony dropped his backpack next to his desk, and leaned back in his chair. Surprisingly, he arrived before the rest of the team. He looked around at the empty office. It was very quiet. He glanced over at Ziva's unoccupied desk. Seeing her belongings set up like that made him happy.

Tony reached in his backpack and pulled out a black pouch with a velvety texture. He opened up the pouch slowly and emptied its contents onto his desk. A sparkling gold necklace shone up at him. He held it in his hand and raised it so he could see the pendant hanging on the gold chain. The Star of David was truly beautiful.

Tony had spent his whole weekend searching for it. He never thought it could be so hard to find such a beautiful piece of jewelry.

Lately, things had been awkward between him and Ziva, so he saw this necklace as a chance to fix their friendship.

The soft 'ding' of the elevator interrupted his thoughts. He quickly slipped the necklace back into the pouch, carefully placing it in his backpack.

The rest of team entered the bullpen. Looks of surprise greeted him as they made their way to their respective desks. Obviously they were surprised to see him at work so early.

As soon as they all sat down at their desks, Gibbs' phone rang. He answered it without checking the caller ID.

"Gibbs." He answered in his usual voice.

"Jethro, you've got a case. I just got a call about a dead marine in Quantico. It's high priority, so drop what you're doing and get out there." The director spoke in his monotone voice, despite the situation.

"On it." Gibbs ended the call abruptly.

"Grab your gear. Dead marine at Quantico." He ordered his team like it was a habit, however, he walked straight into the director's office. He showed no regard to the door being closed or to the Directors secretary as he pushed through the door.

"Ah, Gibbs. I thought I'd get a visit from you today." Director Vance added plainly.

"Ziva David." Gibbs knew that stating her name was all he needed to say on the subject.

"What about her? I've reinstated her, despite the psychologists concerns. You should be happy." Vance was somewhat confused.

"Eli. Have you heard from him?" Gibbs speaking in single word sentences was something the director had gotten used to.

"No, we are not on speaking terms. Politics is a tense game in which, might I add, you have no experience."

"I've got enough to know I hate it." Gibbs took a seat on the edge of the director's desk.

"Call him; Ziva is not on good terms."

"With Eli - I know. Hence, the psychological test. I will call, we just need to give it some time."

"I'm not a patient man. Do it quickly." And with that Gibbs walked out of the office, not bothering to close the door with his exit.

He entered the bullpen once again and motioned for his team to split up. Tony and Ziva took the elevator while McGee waited for Gibbs to finish gathering his gear. They were going to take the van from the garage and pick up Ducky while they were down there.

Tony stared blankly at the wall in front of him. Ziva was looking down at her shoes. She touched her neck, out of habit and Tony could see the hurt in her eyes at the loss of her necklace. She looked empty, like she was missing something.

Tony saw the necklace missing when they rescued her, but he never mentioned it. He could only imagine the types of things Saleem did to Ziva, and it made him wish he had killed the bastard himself. Of course, he didn't plan on confronting her about it, or not yet anyway. She was already suffering enough emotional pain, although he was the only one who could really see it. Gibbs, Abby and McGee all saw that something was wrong, but she kept denying that it was 'nothing. Tony was the one who knew her well enough, and could see that it wasn't 'nothing'. Basically, he didn't want to make things worse.

He glanced over at her, procrastination and contemplation had been all he was doing over the past week. Tell her? Don't tell her? Make her life worse? Leave her and let her get over it? Finally, he decided it was time.

"Ziva." 

"Tony."

He switched off the elevator and turned to face her.

"Look, I know what happened in Somalia was painful, so I'm here when you're ready. I'm here when you're ready to tell someone about it. Or when you're ready to just sit down and talk about nothing. I don't want you to push yourself to do anything that you're not ready for."

He looked at her and she raised her eyes from the floor to look at him, before she let them fall back to the floor.

"I know you're Mossad, and I know you're tough, but no one can get over everything. No one I know is as mentally and physically tough as you, but I know that even you can't take everything. I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean that in a human way. You're human Ziva, and you're allowed to be upset about this. So when you're ready to be upset, I'll be there."

"Thank you, Tony." The assassin replied softly, still eying the floor.

Tony pulled the velvet pouch out of his bag. He pulled the necklace from it quietly, so Ziva wouldn't notice. He moved behind her and unclasped the chain. Gently, he placed it around Ziva's neck.

"I couldn't help but notice that it was missing. So I thought I would buy you a new one…" His voice was low and husky as he spoke from behind her.

He wondered if it was all a big mistake. If he had just ruined everything they had - their trust. Their friendship. Everything.

Ziva once again pulled her gaze from the ground and looked at her necklace.

"Oh, Tony." She sighed. Tony clasped the closure and let it fall to her neck, forming a lovely 'v'.

Tony stood behind her, and he felt her ret her head back against his chest. She turned around and gazed up at him, his eyes filled with concern. She smiled for what felt like the  
>first time since her return. No words were spoken. Nothing needed to be said.<p>

Tony had made his point clear as his gaze flickered down to her lips, and Ziva got the message.

She reached up and placed one hand on his chest while the other rested on his cheek, and leaned in next to his right ear.

"I don't know what to say. Thank you, Tony. You have no idea what this means to me." Her words gave him shivers down his spine as the whisper trickled into his ears.

She kissed him on his lips gently. It was short and sweet, and definitely worth it. She backed away gracefully.

"Tony?" Ziva asked. 

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry." Ziva apologized, her voice braking slightly.

"For what?" Tony asked, confused.

"You were right. I should have trusted you. I can trust you. I just didn't trust myself. You… you are my family." As soon as she said it, Ziva regretted that last sentence. Not because she didn't want Tony to think they weren't that close, but Ziva wouldn't classify her feelings toward Tony that way. She didn't really classify them as love either, or hate. It was just separate. Special.

"It's okay. We are family, and I forgive you." Tony was very calm and kept his composure.

"I meant all of it. I never lied to you. What I said when you pushed me to the ground." Tony was revealing more than he thought he would, more than he should.

Ziva thought about his words in full depth and was satisfied.

"I am so sorry. And now that I think about it, we are not family. I mean, I trust you completely now, but I do not want to classify our relationship and what we have that way."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… I have feelings towards you. It's not like family. It's  
>different. Do you understand?"<p>

"Completely. I sort of feel the same way." Tony wondered what to say next to say them clearly. 

Ziva nodded.

They were about to go back to staring at the walls again, but they just couldn't. Their eyes wouldn't move off of each other's. Ziva reached up and patted his cheek sweetly. Then, she tilted her head to the side and kissed Tony on his lips again gently. It felt right, but Ziva had no idea why or what she was really doing. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he kissed her back.

He had no idea what they were doing either. Well, they were kissing obviously, but he had no idea why. He wrapped his arms around Ziva's waist, making a comforting embrace. Their faces, their bodies, they fit together perfectly.

Both Tony and Ziva separated their lips slightly around the same time. He leaned into the kiss, pressing his lips against his partner's more firmly. Their lips separated and the kiss was broken when the necessity for air became greater than the necessity to be together. Tony leaned back in to plant a soft peck on Ziva's lips and they gazed into each other's eyes again.

"Thank you." Ziva said.

"You're welcome. What for, exactly?" 

"That. The kiss. It was so right." Ziva concluded.

"Yes." Tony gave her one more kiss and turned the elevator back on. The elevator doors opened soon after.

The two headed to the car. As they drove to the crime scene, they were both grinning happily, more than they had been in a long time.

"So, that actually happened. We are never mentioning this to Gibbs." Tony started.

"Yes. But, what about us? Was that just an accident? A onetime thing? Are we together now?" Ziva questioned.

"What we did Zi, that wasn't an accident. It was perfect. I don't want it to be a onetime thing, do you? But, a relationship; I don't know. Maybe we should take it slow." Tony said, turning to looking at the road ahead.

"I agree. How about for now, we just let happen what may?"

"Yeah." Tony said as they arrived at the crime scene.

"Are you going out to the bar tonight? McGee's going and so is Palmer."

"Yeah. And after that?" Tony asked, half hoping there would be something after that.

"Like I told you under cover Tony, I prefer to be on top." Tony smiled as he remembered that night undercover, and the thoughts of what may happen tonight stayed with him for the rest of the day.

**I hope you enjoyed it! Please REVIEW! **


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